


The Ways You Said "I love you" Bokuakakuroken

by CheetahLeopard2



Series: Gifts and also what I'm doing instead of working on my others [41]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Kuroo Tetsurou's Birthday, M/M, Multi, The Ways You Said "I love you", polyamoury, prompt collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-04 01:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12760215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheetahLeopard2/pseuds/CheetahLeopard2
Summary: All of this prompt list http://trash-by-vouge.tumblr.com/post/132858041745/the-way-you-said-i-love-you applied to bakk





	1. 1- As a hello

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Frenchibi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frenchibi/gifts).



> requested by @iceandbrimstone on tumblr for Tetsurou's birthday (I'm accepting birthday prompts until the 23rd) I chose to do all of them
> 
> For @frenchibi because of all the support she's showing me
> 
> I know I said I'm on hiatus. And I kind of am. All of my other multichapters are on hold and I'm not writing to fill a quota. This is me writing for me and for the wonderful feedback I get. I hope to see some familiar icons in the comment section! Love all of you who take the time to read and kudos/comment!! Thank y'all have a great rest of your year!! <3

Kenma glances at his watch again, then to Keiji, sitting across from him. Only another 10 minutes, and they’ll be able to see their boyfriends again, for the first time since fall break in October. It’s now November, November 17th to be exactly, Tetsurou’s birthday, and Keiji and Kenma are fortunate enough to have a few days off for parent-teacher conferences, and their 5-day-weekend had started a mere 2 hours before, and Kenma and Keiji had gone directly home to grab already packed bags and then taken the metro (lightrail? Train? WHATEVER IT IS) to meet each other and then switched lines en course to Koutarou and Tetsurou’s college.

It had been surprisingly difficult to keep their break and plans a secret, considering the only contact they have is texting and nightly skype calls. But Kenma digresses. After all, Tetsurou could tell with one look at Kenma that he’s hiding something. That comes with being being best friends for 14 years and dating for 3 of those years. Luckily he could deflect when Tetsurou asked by excitedly describing a boss he had defeated in the video game Tetsurou had gotten him for his birthday.

Keiji catches Kenma’s glance and looks around, deciding the train was sufficiently empty enough before standing to go and sit next to Kenma, who immediately rests his head on Keiji’s shoulder when Keiji entwines their fingers on Kenma’s thigh.

8 minutes. Kenma digs his phone out of his pocket with his other hand and picks a game he can play one handed, Keiji watching, half out of interest in whatever Kenma’s interested in, and half out of boredom and the urge to distract himself. 

 A notification about Koutarou texting him makes Kenma lose, but he’s too alight with nerves to be mad. Watching as Kenma opens his texting window, Keiji squeezes his hand reassuringly and breaks their companionable silence to murmur, “We should probably ask him to pick us up.”

Kenma hums in agreement as his eyes scan Koutarous’s message.

 

**Kou**

Just got out of class!! We had a quiz and I think I did okay =D =D =D Getting coffee with Tetsu now!

**Me**

Good job

The place by the station?

**Kou**

Yeah why?

**Me**

Can you meet Keiji and I there in 7 minutes?

 

Kenma waits for a couple minutes and there’s no reply, and his screen doesn’t show that Koutarou is typing.

Keiji notices Kenma’s unease and squeezes his hand again, “I’m sure he’s just surprised.” Keiji says, his voice calm and soothing, although Kenma can pick out the thread of anxiety there that sends him back to the night before, when Keiji had called him after the usual four-way skype call, shaking and nervous and full of “What if “s “What if they’re too busy to see us? What if they have plans even though Oikawa-san made sure they don’t? What if-” before Kenma had reassured him.

Oh how the tables have tabled.

Kenma is pulled out of his thoughts by the buzz of his phone in his hand, it’s a video from Tetsurou.

He clicks it and the image at the beginning is of Koutarou, sitting in a cafe smiling gently down at his phone, the last rays of dying sunlight painting the white streaks of his hair and the white table they sit at pink. Kemna smiles at the image for a moment, heart clenching, before he unwinds his earbuds and offers one to Keiji, plugging them into his phone and clicking play.

Tetsurou’s tenor voice immediately filters into his ears and Kenma relaxes further into Keiji’s side.

_ “Kou you’re grinning like an idiot,” Tetsurou’s tone is teasing, and his smirk is easy for Kenma and Keiji to envision. _

_ Koutarou glances up, “It’s Kenma Tetsu, you smile like this at your phone all the time so don’t- Why are you recording?”  _

_ “Because,” Tetsurou seems to lean forward, because the view moves towards Koutarou slightly, and it’s easy for Keiji and Kenma to imagine the scene, Tetsurou resting his chin on on hand and his phone in the other, smirk prominent as he teases their boyfriend, “I want them to see how lovestruck you are~.” he finishes in a sing-song voice. _

_ Koutarou laughs as he types at his phone, and few seconds pass before Koutarou’s eyes go wide and he drops his phone, which slides off the edge of the table as Koutarou fumbles for hit, the table shifting slightly when Koutarou’s knee hits it and Tetsurou laughs, the video ending on Koutarou blurrily ducking under the table to retrieve his phone. _

 

**Tetsu**

So what’d you do to give him that reaction lol

**Me**

Just meet us at the station in 3 minutes

**Tetsu**

ADjsncmx jadk

SOrry dropped my phone

You’re here?

Like here here

At the station

Well be there holy shit

 

Keiji and Kenma exchange a glance full of love and shared humor before they laugh, half out of relief. 

They compose themselves as the train (?) comes to a stop and they stand up, hands unwinding and dropping to their sides at the doors when they see that the station is somewhat crowded.

Together, they step out of the train and time seems to stop when they catch sight of gold eyes.

Their steps seem louder than thunder as both pairs advance, stopping close enough to touch, and yet they hesitate, savoring the moment with a trace of disbelief with how long it had been.

“I love you.” Tetsurou breathes with all the reverence of a secret first shared, and the moment breaks when they all collapse into each other in a hug with the laughter of souls reunited.

They were home.


	2. 2- With a hoarse voice, under the blankets

The evening starting well, with Tetsurou laughing, Keiji on his lap and his arms around Keiji’s waist, face tucked into Keiji’s neck as he shook with laughter, Koutarou and Kenma mirroring their position beside him, with Koutarou’s chin hooked over Kenma’s shoulder. They were all squeezed into one side of the booth with Tooru, Hajime, Issei, and Takahiro across from them. As the only two poly relationships they knew of, plus the fact that Koutarou, Tooru, and Tetsurou played together in uni, they hung out fairly often, in groups or pairs or, more rarely, all together.

Tonight was one of the date nights they had where all 8 schedules lined up, and they had collectively agreed to a double date. 

They’re sitting, bill already paid, just chatting. Tooru had engaged Keiji in a conversation about setting, and Hajime was talking with Kenma about some game or another, while Issei and Takahiro, Meme Team #1, were engaged in a serious debate with Tetsurou and Koutarou, Meme Team #2, about which memes became internet culture and what just became old. 

The evening began with Tetsurou laughing.

It didn’t end that way.

Because just around the time they had finished discussing “Yeet” as an addition to a new version of internet speak, Kenma spotted something that made him freeze and stop in the middle of his sentence, eyes going wide in horror.

Hajime and Koutarou instantly notice, as Kenma’s on Koutarou’s lap and Hajime is the one talking with him. By extension, everyone listening to Koutarou notices, and Tetsurou is the first to follow Kenma’s gaze. What he sees makes him grab Koutarou’s arm to ground himself.

Tetsurou’s ex catches Tetsurou’s look and her eyes narrow. She murmurs something to the bartender before turning away to scribble something on a napkin.

She’s the one serious relationship Tetsurou had before realizing he was gay. It wasn’t serious as in the feelings were deep, but in the way that she was Tetsurou’s drug. She hooked him and reeled him further and further in until he couldn’t say no and couldn’t escape even to hang out with Kenma, consenting to things he didn’t want and jumping to follow her orders no matter how they rubbed him the wrong way, even as he had no idea he was going against himself.

She’s the one who  _ broke _ him. And he’s lucky he was young and able to bounce back. High school wasn’t an age where they could move in together or have too much of an influence, luckily. But the worst part was that Tetsurou hadn’t even realized something was wrong. It took her cheating on him to realize that their relationship wasn’t even close to normal.

“Who’s that?” Tooru hisses, sensing the animosity in the air.

“My shitty ex.” Tetsurou answers on autopilot.

“She’s turned away,” Keiji points out, “I don’t think she’s paying any attention to you.”

“Yeah,” Tetsurou exhales, turning back to the others, “Yeah.”

They resume their conversation, at least until a worker comes up to them with an apologetic smile and a drink with a scribbled on napkin to go with it.

“ _ I hope your gay ass drowns along with those sickos you’re with. Tell Kenma he can-” _

Tetsurou reads aloud before crumpling the napkin in his trembling fist.

Keiji is the first to break the stunned silence, “We should go home.”

“We should break that bitch.” Everyone turns, stunned, to Hajime.

“What? From what I’ve heard she’s done some shitty stuff and this isn’t even the worst of it.”

Takahiro and Issei exchange a nod, and Tooru slings an arm around Hajime’s shoulders, “You four go on.” He says, and his tone makes a shiver go down their unwittingly ridgid spines.

“No argument here,” Keiji exchanges a look with Kenma and they stand up, Koutarou pushing Tetsurou, who is shaking nearly out of his skin ahead of him.

They make their way outside and pile into Tetsurou’s car, Koutarou in the driver’s seat, Keiji in the passenger’s seat, and Kenma squished as close as he can be to Tetsurou in the backseat, murmuring comforting words that are lost to all but Tetsurou under the purr of the car engine.

Tetsurou hears nothing over the blood pounding in his ears. He knows only vaughly that they’re home because he’s robotically taking off his shoes. Gently being guided to the bedroom, where he gratefully crawls under the covers, hiding from the world.

_ She can’t affect me. She can’t reach them. _ He thinks the two things until they overwhelm his senses, become truth.

And when Kenma and Keiji lay on either side of him, a protective barrier against the world, he allows himself to cry.

Later, in the dark of midnight, when Koutarou is spread over the three of them, his soft hooting snores creating a metronome for the breaths of the others, when they’re all asleep and can’t hear him, Tetsurou admits to the world in a voice wrecked by tears and the stress of the past, “I love you.” 

And he is loved.


	3. A scream

Keiji knows that relationships are never perfect. He knows that a relationship with multiple people would have just as many, if not more altercations. But that's fine, because Keiji knows that, and recognizes that fights can strengthen bonds when problems are worked out.

He doesn't realize how useless some of the fights would be.

\---

Keiji wakes up groggy. He usually doesn’t, having found out long long ago which hours work for him. 5 hours, or 12+ hours. 

It’s kind of unusual, but Keiji fully accepts that his sleep schedule is messed up, and lets it be.

Usually he wakes up and doesn’t have any reluctance to get out of bed past oh my bed is warm and comfortable and if I get up I’ll have to face the world. Today is different, because he’s not just comfortable, he’s seeing through fog.

And then just as a face comes into focus above him, and Keiji becomes aware of a terrible ringing in his ears.

Keiji groans and rolls onto his side, curling in on himself, closing his eyes and wishing the ringing away.

If anything, the ringing gets more intense, and Keiji clenches his eyes further shut and clamps his hands over his ears.

There’s an odd sense of calm washing over him, and before Keiji can connect the myriad of unusual things to a single source, the ringing cuts out. He’s not sure that he prefers the silence, because that generally means that all movement and such had stopped.

Keiji hesitantly removes his hands from his ears, realizing rather belatedly that they’re coated in a sticky substance that smells metallic and thick. His eyes snap open in panic and next to him he can make out the kneepad protected legs of someone with red shorts.

Kenma. It must be, Tetsurou never wears kneepads no matter how often they ask him too, saying that he feels like they constrict his movement.

Keiji slowly becomes aware of hands gently trying to uncurl him onto his back, and he slowly complies, wincing at the pain in his head when he uncurls.

Above him, the concerned faces of Tetsuruo and Koutarou appear, both seemingly yelling to faces outside of Keiji's scope of vision.

But Keiji can't hear them.

Keiji realizes his hands no longer feel coated with anything, and he brings them up to his face. Nothing. Keiji lets out a sigh of relief and lets his eyes slide shut again.

This must draw the attention of the other three again, because there are hands shaking him gently before there're shooed away, probably by Kenma because there are then his hands, smaller than Koutaruo and Tetsurou's, with calloused fingertips, gently prodding his eyes open.

They open, but refuse to focus again, and then Keiji notices far away voices, volume increasing at a rapid pace now that he's noticed.

"-leep! Don't sleep Keiji! Fuck his eyes are glassy."

Keiji groans and attempts to sit up, laying back down when all he gets for his efforts is a headache.

"I'm not going to sleep." Keiji protects, and his voice sounds much more put together than Keiji actually is.

Kenma sighs and his hands (when did his hands start trembling?) frame Keiji's face as he attempts to blink his eyes into focus.

"Kenma," Keiji says, still unreasonably calm, "what happened?"

"You got hit by Tetsurou's serve and also hit the wall."

"Ah." Keiji processes, "That would explain why my eyes won't focus."

There's a pause.

"...WHAT" Koutarou screeches, making Keiji wince again as the headache rears it's ugly head.

\---

It turns out Keiji has a concussion, according to the school nurse who came after a few more minutes to shine a light in his eyes, which basically had them refocus.

So he could see, but isn't cleared to read or do anything, basically.

And this, of course, means Keiji is bored out of his mind.

Until things start to spiral and all of a sudden there's yelling.

"THEN MAYBE I SHOULD LEAVE!" Is what Keiji zones in to, and then there's silence, during which Keiji's eyes snap open and Kenma's hand stills from where it was running through his hair.

"Tetsu?" Koutarou's voice cracks, and Keiji hates how broken he sounds.

"All I do is hurt people. Why shouldn't I leave?" Tetsurou sounds small, but sure in his words, and Kenma takes a rattled breath that Keiji can feel rip through him.

"BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU!" Koutarou screams.

Keiji can hear the door open, and he chokes on the plea that rips out of his throat, "TETSUROU!"

Kenma finishes his thought with a deep breath, "Don't you dARE WALK OUT THAT FUCKING DOOR KURO."

"Kenma..." Tetsurou's surprised. Why would he be surprised? None of them could stand to lose him, and he should know this.

 

He stays.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT!! EVEN JUST A KEYBOARD SMASH IS GREAT!!


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